Going public

 Does the scarf in that spread look familiar? It’s my cityscape scarf, published in the new Handwoven magazine. This article wa 11 months in the making, from me watching a webinar on how to submit to the magazine, to having the scarf accepted as a concept, to having it published. In between, the USPS lost the scarf in the mail for a month, making me crazy. But it all worked out in the end. If you can’t bear not reading it, here’s a PDF of the article.

I also just got notice of my acceptance in this year’s Clothesline Festival. Now that I live in Rochester I wanted to get into this well-respected show, so was holding my breath that I’d be accepted. I think this will be a predominantly new audience for me. You can get details on this and the other shows I’ll be doing this year on my website.

A few weeks ago I showed you a braided twill scarf on the loom. It took a while for me to get them fringed, wet finished, presse and photographed, but here you go.

I thought I’d done a better job of color changes on this warp...they’re still too long. And that pink is garish. Sigh.

Anyway, from left to right the weft colors are red-purple, medium blue, and forest green. The blue is by far my favorite of the three. The close ups of these scarves, showing the front and back of each, are pretty dramatic.

I also finished the baby blankets. Although I’ve previously done a polyester satin binding because I know babies like that smooth & silky feel, I’ve been told by others that it can tend to reduce the perceived value of a handwoven baby blanket. So this time I used a cotton weft for a rolled hem, putting a ‘tag’ made of that binding material at each corner for baby’s fingers to grab and rub.

Closing with color....here are the appetizers I made for my daughter’s Memorial Day party. Green & red peppers topped with a ‘stuffing’ of neufchatel cheese, lemon juice & lemon zest, black pepper, & almond meal, finished with toasted slivered almonds.

May 30th, 2016 | 

Making new

I’ve been working on a variety of fronts. Although I don’t have any good pics at the moment, I’ve made plenty of progress in my new gardens. In addition to raiding my daughter’s garden I found two local people with perennial gardens they were dividing, an got lots of things: crocus, English primrose, hosta, lady fern, bleeding heart, echinacea, perennial forget-me-not, and more; even some clematis. My crabtree is doing its maiden flowering, and my tulips look very pretty. I’ll try to get pics of it all soon. Meanwhile I have taken pictures of some of the beautiful flowering trees I see on my walks.

I ordered some cotton rep filler, and when it came couldn’t wait to get started on a new set of mug rugs for my booth; I haven’t had any in a few years.

The warp only gave me 5 mug rugs instead of the 8 I’d planned, so I quickly warped up a second length and did 5 more.

Here are both sets finished. Sooooo much nicer than my first attempt at rep weave. Although I’m quite pleased with them, we’ see if they sell.

Next I decided what to do with another hand painted warp. This time I went back to my first dye class and am using a rayon war and weft. I’ve always been intrigued by braided twills, and this one is different – and better – than a draft I used before. This one is from Carol Strickler’s 8-Shaft Pattern Book, #381-4.

The treadling looks more complex than it is. However, I’ve learned something new in the weaving of this scarf. I have to back up a bit to tell the story....

When I moved into my new home I got a belated birthday present from my daughter and her hubby: a new Sonos system. I love it and use it all the time to listen to NPR and podcasts. But my old Mac was too old and couldn’t speak to the Sonos so I couldn’ listen to my music on it. And I didn’t really have the space to set up my old system: receiver, CD player, tape deck, and big speakers. So it all went up to the attic till I got a new computer. I did that about a month ago when I got my income tax return.

But when I sat down to load my music into the new computer, lo, a CD drive is no longer standard, and I hadn’t paid attention and asked for one. My high tech son-in-law came through once again, lending me his external CD drive. It sat on my kitchen table for at least 2 weeks before I plugged it in and got to work. (The impetus to begin will be revealed in another post. Are you curious now?)

The process is SOOOOO easy. And fast. I’ve gotten through several dozen discs yesterday and today. I must say I’m LOVING listening to my music again! I’d forgotten how much I like my music!

So what’s this have to do with weaving? Well, I can’t sing along to my favorite tunes and simultaneously pay attention to what m feet are doing. I’ve had to do a fair amount of unweaving. Fortunately I’ve caught the mistakes after a maximum of 6-8 pics each time, but still. I’ll have to figure out a reasonable balance between music and treadling: how complex can the treadling be i I want to sing along?

May 13th, 2016 |